Sharla Lovelace's Blog, page 9
November 5, 2012
Life Lesson #5 from savvy Emily Lockwood
BEFORE AND EVER SINCE, my second full length novel with Berkley, is almost here! I get lots of questions asking me what it’s about.
Basically, the main character, Emily Lockwood has alot on her plate. She is successful in her own right, with a solid real estate career, but has a headstrong daughter, a mother who marches to her own drummer, and an ex-husband who needs sex therapy. Enter into this picture a house with an agenda, and the return of her first love, rocking a tool belt and a paintbrush and dark eyes full of secrets, and Emily just flat out has things to get through and get over. I call them the “Emily Lockwood Life Lessons”.
We can all learn things from Emily. 
Life Lesson #5 from Emily in BEFORE AND EVER SINCE…
DON’T BRING UP THE PAST UNLESS YOU’RE PREPARED TO BE BACKED INTO A CORNER.
…an excerpt from the book…
The smoldering look in his eyes was the old Ben. The one that once knew all my secrets and loved me anyway. He blinked the moment free and broke eye contact, looking back toward the kitchen as he raked fingers through his hair.
“No one ever came here,” he said, walking behind the island bar. “We didn’t want anybody here.” He held out a hand for the file I’d forgotten I had. “So what was the deal with the realtor lady at your mom’s?”
I cleared my throat, the temperature and subject change knocking me off balance. I laid the file on the smooth cream and brown granite and turned to the page in question.
“Old history,” I said.
“So am I, but you don’t run off when I arrive,” he said, thereby yanking my gaze back to his.
I started to point out the difference, but then wondered if there really was one. “Good point,” I said, sliding the paper to him. “One of you climbed off my husband and screwed me over. The other one climbed off my roof.”
His eyes narrowed. “So he didn’t change,” Ben said, effectively ignoring the comment regarding him. “I wondered about that.”
“No,” I said. “He didn’t.” I pulled the pen off the folder and handed it to him. “Evidently, neither did you.”
“Me?”
“You know what?” I said, laying the pen down. “You and Bobby deal with this and bring it back to me when you’re done.”
“Where are you going?” I heard him ask from behind me as I made a beeline for the door.
“Home,” I said, remembering even as I said it that I had to go back for Cassidy. “Damn it,” I muttered.
“What are you so angry about?” he asked, making me turn around.
He kept walking so I did too, backward. “This push-pull thing you do,” I said. “I don’t understand it, and I’m tired of it. I’m sick and tired of avoiding the one thing I really want to know.”
I felt the hardness of the door press against my back, and he kept moving forward. I sucked in a breath and lifted my chin to appear defiant as he put his hands against the door on either side of my head and looked down at me from so close I could feel his breath on my lips.
“Why you made the choice you did?”
He said each word slow and deliberate, matching a rawness I hadn’t seen in his eyes since he’d been back. That, coupled with the sudden need to close that half inch between us, hit me in the gut with so much emotion, that for a second I didn’t make sense of the words themselves. When I did, I was confused. Choice?
“What about what you chose?” I whispered, forcing myself to focus on his eyes and not his mouth.
A shrill ring broke the quiet and he clenched his jaw and reached into his pocket. His eyes never left mine, but I used the moment to put my hands against his chest and gently push him back.
“Hello,” he said, his voice cracked and rough.
I turned and let myself out, grateful for that phone call. Another thirty seconds at that proximity and I would have spilled my guts, forgiven him for everything, and tested out that rug.
* * *
Before And Ever Since is available at all major book retailers, both in print and digital:
Books-a-Million Book Depository
Tagged: before and ever since, book launch, emily lockwood life lessons, romance, sharla lovelace
November 3, 2012
We interrupt the regularly scheduled program…
Taking a break from Emily’s Life Lessons and Hot Tool Guys today…. I know, I know, but it’s Saturday and I think a little time away from sexy men and snarky moments will be good for us. Right? Besides, then we can truly appreciate them again when Monday rolls around.
Today, I thought I’d pay homage to Friday nights.
What? Friday nights? What on earth does that mean?? Well, I live in Texas, and this time of year is about football. High school football. As in the real life Friday Night Lights.
Some people might think that was just a movie. Or a TV series. But let me assure you, it was all based on the real deal. And I live smack in the middle of it. You renew your season tickets every year, and keep them forever. Families pass “their seats” down through family, so it’s not unusual to know where the Boudreaux’s sit, and that the Fontenot’s are up there on row 39, just under the press box. They’ve been there for as long as you can remember. Our team is the Indians, and our colors are purple and white. I grew up here, and I know you are born with purple blood and wear cute little outfits that mimic the cheerleaders and drill team and go to the pep rallies and games from the time you can walk, and will be sitting in the front in the wheelchair section, still donning a purple shirt, when you are 98. It’s just the way it is.
We are coming to the end of the season…just one more game left in the regular season, and unfortunately we didn’t make it into the playoffs this year, but more importantly for me, it’s the end of it for my little girl. Who isn’t so little anymore.
It is her senior year, she plays the flute in the band, this is the last time she will march into that magnificent home stadium and do the famous Marching I at halftime. I remember this feeling, because 20+ years ago (eek) I was there doing the same thing.
Here are some pics I’ve taken this season to share with you.
Freshman year on the track…
And now her senior year on the track…
Oh how they grow!!!
and band parent night for the seniors…
So do you have any special traditions in your town?
Tagged: before and ever since, emily lockwood life lessons, family, friday night lights, personal, sharla lovelace
November 2, 2012
Hot Tool Guy of the Day #5
Working man of the day…
Not sure how much work he’s doing, but that stretch looks good!
Tagged: before and ever since, book launch, hot tool guys, romance, sharla lovelace
Life Lesson #4 from BEFORE AND EVER SINCE…
Are you enjoying the lessons? Well before we move on to Emily’s fourth lesson, let me shout out that I’m being interviewed over at Cocktails & Books today, and I believe the book is being reviewed as well.
NOW….let’s see what Emily has to teach us today.
Emily Life Lesson #4… Assuming your ex has gotten smarter in your absence is a fail.
“So, what’s up?” I asked after a pause. “I don’t know if Cass has done anything with that paperwork, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
He shook his head minimally, still looking at the pictures, and the little warning bells went off in my head. Kevin was nothing, if not opinionated and in your face. For him to come to my house and then not come look me in the eye—told me it wasn’t going to be his normal rant.
I decided to abandon my dinner for the moment, and pour myself a glass of wine. I poured two on instinct, and offered him one as I sat at the table.
“You aren’t going to eat?” he asked, glancing back at the stove as he sat down.
“It can wait, what’s going on?”
He met my eyes and chuckled. “Is something going on with you and Landry?”
My whole body relaxed. “Jesus, Kevin, is that what you came over to ask me?”
“No, I’m just wondering.”
“Well, quit,” I said, getting back up to revisit dinner.
“Sherry wants to get married,” he blurted out.
I looked back at him, at the genuine worry and anxiety in his face, and sat back down.
“O—kay. I’m guessing you don’t?”
He toyed with his glass. “I should. I mean, yeah, I guess I do. I just—”
“You’ve been together long enough to know.”
“I know,” he said, pushing back his chair and rubbing at his eyes. For the first time, I noticed the perfection was waning. There were the little lines around his eyes, and some gray in his eyebrows. “And in that respect, I do.” He blew out a breath. “She’s perfect for me. We have a great relationship.”
“You have a great relationship?” I leaned across the table toward him. “You sound like you’re describing a dog. Or a car. Or an insurance agent. Do you love her?”
He met my eyes. “I loved you.”
That backed me up a good foot. I sat up and blinked at him. “Wh—What—”
“I loved you with all I had, Emily. Since junior high, I was in love with you. And look what I did with that. I still had to screw it up. I couldn’t be happy with what I had, I still needed what I didn’t have.”
I didn’t want to go down that road. I scooped my hair up and tried to look patient, but reminders of what the whole town knew my husband was doing behind my back was not my idea of memory lane.
“So you’re saying you might do it again?”
He scoffed and looked away. “I’ve already done it again. And again. That’s my point.”
I dropped my hair and stared at him. “Seriously?”
“I love her, Em. She’s amazing.” He got up and pushed his chair in, lining it up with the others. “But clearly, that’s not enough to keep me faithful. Should I let her marry into that?”
I wanted to shake him. “No!” I got up and left my chair out on purpose. “Kevin, grow the hell up. You’re not special. Everybody has temptations—hell, I could have had three different flings while we were married, but I never gave it a second thought. I made the choice. You have that ability too. Get help if you need to, or let her go.” I walked up to him and put my finger on his chest. “But if you love Sherry like you say you do, be a man. Don’t fuck her over.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Who could you have had flings with?”
I turned around and headed back to my cooling dinner. “Really? That’s all you heard?”
He followed me. “I’m sorry.”
I looked at him, annoyed. “For what?”
“Cheating on you. Messing things up.”
His voice was soft. Sincere. Probably for the first time in all the apologies he’d made.
“I know,” I said, and then looked back down at my chicken that wasn’t looking so good. “Things happen as they’re supposed to, Kevin. Maybe Sherry’s the one for you.”
“Maybe.” He started to leave, then turned around. “Thanks for talking to me.” He shrugged. “I didn’t have anybody else.”
I gave him a small smile. “Any time.”
“So is Landry the one for you?”
I closed my eyes. “Bye, Kevin.”
He chuckled, and left. But I knew he’d registered the fact that I hadn’t said no.
***
You gotta love Kevin.
You can preorder BEFORE AND EVER SINCE at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and you’ll have it on release day!
Now remember to comment for a chance to name that character in my next novella….AND stay tuned later this afternoon for today’s Hot Tool Guy of the Day!
Tagged: before and ever since, book launch, emily lockwood life lessons, sharla lovelace
November 1, 2012
Hot Tool Guy of the Day #4
Today’s hot tool man…
Is there really explanation needed? Whew!
Tagged: before and ever since, book launch, hot tool guys, romance, sharla lovelace
The 3rd Thing You’ll Learn from reading BEFORE AND EVER SINCE…
No tour stop today, so let’s get straight to the business of what Emily has to tell us. The 3rd Lesson in BEFORE AND EVER SINCE…
Emily Life Lesson #3… Never say you’re never going to do something, like going out for girls night in a powder blue Winnebago. It guarantees you will.
I wasn’t going to ride in Big Blue.
Aunt Bernie, Holly, Cassidy, myself and my mother were dressed to go out, looking good, feeling good, and I wasn’t about to ruin that by piling in a giant trailer.
Aunt Bernie was the one who’d brought it up, pointing out that we all had smallish cars and five people would be crowded. Holly eyed the monstrosity warily.
“I think we’ll be just fine,” I said. “It’s just across town, we won’t be in the car long.”
“Seriously?” Cassidy said, looking like she was ready to burn up Manhattan instead of Main Street. She had on a tight little red dress that fell off one shoulder and was made to bring men to their knees. “Come on, Mom, it’ll be a hoot!”
I stared her up and down. “Dressed like that, you want to drive around in a Smurf-mobile?”
“Hey!” Aunt Bernie said, hands on royal blue hips. Royal blue everything. It was evidently the color of the day. “You know, we can just leave your little butt here on the curb,” she said loudly.
I held up my hands. “Sorry. I just pictured a little nicer evening.” I gestured at Mom in her black pantsuit and pearls she wore to any nice event, and Holly in her little green dress which was eerily similar to my requisite little black dress, but made her hair look gorgeous. “I was told to dress nice for Mom’s birthday.”
“And we are,” Cassidy piped in, linking arms with Aunt Bernie. I wanted to know what day she sold out to the other side, because I’d missed it. “And I think that makes it even more fun to ride around and make it a party bus.”
My mom laughed and turned around before she could get targeted.
“A party bus?” Holly said. “Have you ever been on a party bus?”
“As a matter of fact I have,” she said, crossing her arms. “And I think with the right attitude,” she said, throwing a glare my way. “We can make this whatever we want it to be. For Nana.”
“Oh lord,” Holly mumbled, smoothing her dress and looking around as if people who knew her might be hiding in the trees.
“Mom, what do you want to do?” I asked.
She just grinned. “Anything that will get us going. I’m hungry.”
“Well, there you go,” Aunt Bernie said. “Let’s get to The Grille.”
“The Grille?” Holly said quickly. “I thought we were going to Phillipe’s?”
“Oh hell no,” Cassidy said, laughing. “We’d never get reservations there, why’d you think that?”
“Be—cause of how you said to dress, I guess—” Holly said, trailing her words miserably as reality settled on her.
“Come on,” Cassidy urged. “Where’s your sense of fun? We dress to the nines and make a splash, looking like movie stars going to eat burgers and nachos. Party it up with some beer and champagne on the bus, just like it was a limo.”
“Well, except that I’m driving it,” Aunt Bernie said.
“I can get Josh to come drive it, if you want,” Cassidy offered.
“Oh good God, no,” Aunt Bernie said, patting her on the back. “Nobody drives Big Blue but me. He’d hit everything on the way.”
“And where will you park it?” Holly asked.
“I always find a way,” Aunt Bernie said, looking proud.
I looked at Holly, knowing it was inevitable. I was riding Big Blue.
***
Ever had a crazy night out in something odd? I’ve never done a Winnebago…but I have trolled the beach in a psychadelic hearse once. There’s a story…
You can preorder BEFORE AND EVER SINCE at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and you’ll have it on release day!
Tagged: before and ever since, book launch, emily lockwood life lessons, sharla lovelace
October 31, 2012
Hot Tool Guy of the Day #3
For your viewing pleasure…
Tagged: before and ever since, book launch, hot tool guys, romance, sharla lovelace
The 2nd Lesson You’ll Learn reading BEFORE AND EVER SINCE
First of all…Happy Halloween!! May all your spooks line up happy.
Okay, so what did you think of yesterday’s lesson? Ever had that happen to you? Lord knows I have. And what did you think of our first Hot Tool Guy? Want him to come to your house?
Well, before we get to Lesson #2, I’ll point out where my virtual blog tour post stop is today. I’m at Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell today, talking about the books that have inspired me through the years.
Now to hear from Emily with the 2nd Lesson You’ll Learn reading BEFORE AND EVER SINCE…
Emily Life Lesson #2… The most likely time to be found is when you’re trying to hide.
“Where are you?” Cassidy asked.
“The grocery store.”
“Again? Didn’t you just go there?”
I cursed my bad lying. “Oh, I forgot a few things.” I pushed my cart faster, wanting to get done and get home. “So, anyway, that’s fine if you want to do th—” I choked back the last word as I rounded an aisle into the produce, and there stood Ben. Fondling peaches.
“What’s the matter?” Cassidy asked.
“Nothing,” I said under my breath into the phone, jumping backward and tugging my cart with me.
I dead-ended at the meat section, thinking I could stay there, then had a panicked thought that he was a man and would probably buy meat.
“Shit,” I said under my breath, forgetting Cassidy was still chattering.
She stopped. “What?”
“Oh nothing, baby, I just—can’t find the sea salt.”
I darted across the end caps till I found what was sure to be a safe aisle, and jumped in there with the tampons and sanitary pads. And then flattened myself as best I could to all the pink packaging, just in case he tended to look down each aisle. We said our goodbyes and I strongly considered stalking the registers from afar to make sure he left. Then again, if I’d just hurried up I would have been gone by then.
As if on cue, he passed my aisle, slowly pushing his cart as he studied a piece of paper in his hand. I stopped and froze in place, holding my breath, not blinking or breathing till he passed. Then I ran for the registers like the chicken shit I was, not caring that I’d only grabbed four of my thirty-something needed items. They’d be there tomorrow.
I quick-scanned the registers for the fastest choice, and picked one with an elderly man with only a pack of toilet paper and a box of candy under his arm. I’d be out of there in minutes, as compared to all the other lines sporting three and four people each, with mountains overflowing their carts.
I did a little shuffle move, waiting for my turn, looking behind me every five seconds. Why the hell was I so paranoid? Why was I hiding in my grocery store, in my town? He should be hiding from me. And no sooner had that thought crossed my brain, when he rounded the corner, and I ducked.
Pretending to closely inspect the latest celebrity gossip on the rack, I silently begged the checker to hurry the hell up.
“Price check on four!” she called into a microphone, holding up the box of candy.
“It’s five-ninety-nine,” the elderly man said.
“I have to check sir,” the pink-cheeked checker said, pulling out a reference card to prove it.
Great. I picked a newbie with anal retention.
“I actually saw it too, and it was five-ninety-five,” I said, nodding from my bent over stance.
The girl looked at me with giant eyes. “He said five-ninety-nine.”
I blinked. “That’s what I said.”
“No, you said five-ninety-five,” the man said.
“That’s why we check it,” the girl said, nodding.
“For four pennies? Seriously?” I said. I really actually kind of hissed it. “Don’t y’all scan everything now, anyway?”
The girl scowled at me. “The scanners are down,” she said.
The man just kind of shrugged, and I gave him a weary look. Of course the old man didn’t care. All he had planned for the day was to sit on the toilet and eat chocolate caramels.
Finally, a greasy-haired stock boy ambled up, holding a hand out for the box. The old man looked almost physically pained to watch it leave with the boy, as if he’d taken great measures to select that very box and didn’t trust the boy not to switch it.
I was still very much bent over, when legs stopped behind me. Somehow I knew who they belonged to before I ever looked up.
“You okay?” Ben asked, not sounding particularly sincere.
I slowly lowered my stoop to a crouch, pretending fascination with a tabloid.
“I’m fine, how are you?” I asked, hoping I sounded as uninterested as he did.
He reached over me and plucked the tabloid out of the rack, giving off an aroma of warm soap when he did so.
“The end of the world, huh?” he read off the headline. “Nostradamus’s prediction keep you up at night?”
I saw the humor in his eyes, but I refused to play. “Lots of things keep me up at night,”
***
Who’s been there? *raising my hand*
Stay tuned again today for the next Hot Tool Guy of the Day!
And remember to comment here for a chance to name a character in my next novella!
Tagged: before and ever since, book launch, emily lockwood life lessons, sharla lovelace
October 30, 2012
Hot Tool Guy of the Day #2
Today’s working man…
I don’t recall anyone working on anything I’ve ever had built…looking like this. But hey, one can hope.
Tagged: before and ever since, book launch, hot tool guys, romance, sharla lovelace
Emily’s #1 Lesson Learned in BEFORE AND EVER SINCE
Today, we see the very first Life Lesson from BEFORE AND EVER SINCE! Before I share that, however, I want to point out the two other places I will be today so you can go enter for a giveaway after getting schooled over here. I’m guest blogging at Peanut Butter On The Keyboard about the joy of teenagers O.o… And my virtual blog tour kicks off at Love Romance Passion about chemistry and what defines sparks for individual readers.
Okay! Now that geography is done, on to psychology. This is the first of eight great life lessons you’ll learn from reading BEFORE AND EVER SINCE, with a great excerpt to back it up… Remember, one random commenter from all eight days of Emily’s Life Lessons will get a significant character named for them (or by them) in my next novella.
Emily Life Lesson #1… Never assume it’s safe to drop by Mom’s house looking like Swamp Girl.
Oh no. No, no, no, no. Goosebumps ran the length of my body and back again. Ben Landry. As I stared into that face, I felt the old hurt I thought I’d forgotten seep through my bones right down through my feet, rooting me to the floor.
“You’re back,” I said, hearing the words and how my voice suddenly went all croaky and hating how stupid that was.
But I was painfully aware that I had only thrown on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, and otherwise still looked like I’d just crawled out of bed. Additionally, after twenty-one years, I was looking at probably the only person on the planet that ever really knew me. And could turn my life upside down.
“Yes I am,” he said, his voice quiet.
“Mr. Landry,” my mother said from behind me as she moved me over from where I’d dropped anchor in the doorway. “Come on in.”
“Just Ben, ma’am,” he said, shaking her hand and then gesturing toward where I stood with my heart slamming against my ribs. His dark eyes warmed with memory. My stomach threatened to send me back my four cups of coffee as I recalled the last time I’d seen him.
“Emily and I are old friends.”
Old friends.
Ben was the boy that put snakes in the teacher’s lounge and snuck into the girls’ bathroom. That popped all the girls’ training bras and spent at least two days each week in detention. That wore an old black jacket with chains on it when he rode his bike, so he’d look like a bad ass. He was the boy that lured me under my house when we were seven for my first kiss, and into a closet in the eighth grade for another one. He was the mysterious, dangerous looking dark-eyed guy in high school who could part a room like The Red Sea when he entered it, who always sat with his back to the wall and never let his guard down. Except with me.
“I don’t remember seeing you around here,” Mom said.
Ben grinned, an endearing expression that transformed him back into the twenty-one year old I’d last seen him as. Time may have dulled some of the edges, but it worked for him, God help me.
“Well, I’m sure we met at some point,” he said, smoothly moving the conversation on as his eyes slowly took in the walls and beams and ceiling. It was as if he were already seeing the possibilities. “So, tell me what your ideas are for this place.”
He followed her as she talked about the paneling that needed to go, the ceiling that needed sheetrock, the insulation that was probably rotten, and the gaping cracks around the windows. Just for starters.
Fortunately for me, it gave me the opportunity I needed to release the breath I’d been holding and suck in a few more.
“Jesus Christ, Ben Landry,” I muttered under my breath on a sprint to the bathroom. What I saw when I got there made me want to hurl. My hair was still straight on one side, kinked up and tangled on the other, and a zit waved from one pale cheek. “Shit.”
I dug in Mom’s drawers for a brush and a ponytail band, and managed to find an old cover-up stick for the zit. I couldn’t find any powder or mascara or blush, but at least I’d moved up a notch from scary to just unappealing. I couldn’t remember if I’d put on deodorant, but I saw a bottle of cologne and spritzed my neck.
“Oh God!” I groaned.
It smelled like old woman. Not old woman like my mom, because she was fairly young at heart and active. Old like the women with the beehive hairdos and the stripe of blue eye shadow reaching to their eyebrows.
I found a box of wet wipes under the sink, and attacked my neck with one, but I was pretty sure the smell was still there along with the aroma of aloe.
“Damn it, just shoot me now,” I said to my reflection.
***
Like?
Well, come back tomorrow for Lesson #2!
And stay tuned later today for the Hot Tool Guy of the Day, courtesy of Ben. 
Tagged: before and ever since, emily lockwood life lessons, love romance passion, peanut butter on the keyboard, sharla lovelace, virtual tour 
